PENN STATE – President Eric Barron Renewed 3 Year Contract, New Lows have been reached. Community, Economy & Reputation Suffering.

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The constantly news and reputation-conscious Public Relations division of Penn State put a rush on things. They wanted to slip in the renewal contract for Eric Barron before the devastation of Judge Lachman’s ruling really hit them on Monday. They scratched their heads, scoured the news, held a couple of committee meetings and talked to the fat cats on the Board of Trustees (BOT). All conclusions were the same: “Rut-ro, we better slip this one in.”

Let us not forget that Barron’s ridiculous salary is paid by tax payers, he is one of the highest paid presidents for public schools, and yet Penn State’s actual academic rankings continue to plunder.

Penn State President Eric Barron

Meanwhile, tuition goes up, and it’s among the highest tuition costs in the country.

Honestly, I don’t see why Barron’s considered effective. Is it his inaugaration into the cemented Penn State “good old boy” network that makes him so powerful, or is it that ingrained hatred for change that makes up the Penn State culture? Maybe a mixture of both.

His contract has been extended through June 30, 2022. Barron has been Penn State’s president since May 2014, with his original five-year contract set to expire next year.

So basically, if you want to get paid seven+ figures, lose money and burn the reputation of an organization and be a poser: Work for Penn State.

Barron is leading “A Greater Penn State for the 21st Century Excellence” campaign, which has a goal of raising $1.6 billion by 2022 and has so far raised almost $660 million, according to the university. CITATION

Really?

So is he really, [REALLY?], all about the money in this day in age?!!

Yep.

It’s always been about the money. Graham Spanier started that, and he was pretty effective. And for some foregone conclusion, or yet another episode of cronyism with the powerful Board of Trustees, Barron is continuing this tradition.

We actually have launched a whole program, which is titled “Invent Penn State,” and there are several different elements of this. One is to do more to incentivize people on campus to get their ideas out into the marketplace. We have many, many student events that are competitions and have scholarship funds at the end of it. The second part of it is to add more visibility to our intellectual property. A third part is to build an ecosystem around our campuses that promote startups and partnerships with communities.

REBUTTAL ANYONE? A general view, in my opinion, is that many universities are focused on this topic as a source of revenue, not as educational experiences for students and opportunities for them to do startups. We have a lot of effort on the student side. The minors have expanded. I think we have six or seven entrepreneurship minors now that are embedded in curriculum for different colleges if you want. Last year, we started having any student with any major to be able to get all the credits equivalent to a minor in business. There’s a lot on that side plus startup weeks and other activities with a scholarship side of it. CITATION

Sickening.

I thought Penn State was an academic institution dedicated to learning and advancement of the human mind. Last time I checked, it is not a cooperate conglomerate like Equifax or Verizon or Google.

“President Barron has done an outstanding job of leading this great university and Penn State continues to make impressive strides under his direction,” Mark Dambly, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said in a university press release. “He has been a force for positive change over the past four years and by extending his contract we ensure continued stability, academic quality and tremendous leadership.” CITATION

So we might as well hire Miss America for president because Barron seems to be just a front man controlled by the Board of Trustees. Barron does little, compared to the financial genius Spanier whom, despite his proclivities to let child abuse fly under the radar, did have his benefits. Spanier made us into a global campus with multiple satellite divisions.

The stuttering Eric Barron is far removed from that malignant man-child, who was ready to enable child predators for the sake of money. And WHOM TO THIS DAY has remained unaccountable!!

Thank you Josh Shapiro.

Did they really ignore reports of child abuse? What the hell – YES! It was a pervasive rumor throughout the entire county. EVERYONE KNEW. And just like Joe Paterno, nobody knew what to do except to report it…… WHICH JOE PATERNO AND SOME VICTIMS DID.

Barron’s current salary is $834,364, and his salary will be reviewed annually and considered for increase, said Keith Masser, trustee and chairman of the compensation committee, which recommended the extended contract. CITATION

So according to the math, this Florida gator makes $70,000 a month.

But wait…. he is making more money….. and meanwhile… MEANWHILE… he promises to raise tuition, or predicts an increase in 2018. So the tax-paying residents of Pennsylvania can take a second mortgage on their house to send their kid to Penn State, while Barron makes enough money in a week to pay PSU tuition for a year.

Not to mention the bonuses for the gator:

A $200,000 retention payment will be paid at the end of each contract year (June 30), he said. Additionally, $800,000 of the $1 million completion payment that was contained in his original 2014 contract will be deemed to have been earned June 30 of this year. A $800,000 completion payment will be paid once he reaches the end of his extended term on June 30, 2022, he said. CITATION

In other words, he is going to be f*cking rich.

Penn State University President Eric Barron received a $224,000 bonus last fiscal year, bringing his total earnings to more than $1 million and placing him among the top 10 highest-paid public college presidents in the country.

Mr. Barron’s total compensation was reported at $1,039,717, by the Chronicle of Higher Education, which on Wednesday released its latest annual look at the earnings of hundreds of public college and university leaders across the country. That includes $800,000 in base pay, plus the bonus, landing him in sixth place. CITATION

Meanwhile, he is increasing tuition, and Penn State is actively eliminating the union workers. Namely. the Office of the Physical Plant that employs most janitors and physical laborers.

Penn State is “phasing” those people out. Fair wages? Anyone??

Why have fair wages when you can pay area residents $8 an hour to clean toilets at Bryce Jordan Stadium. It’s cheaper to uninsure resident workers so Barron and the BOT can be paid more. Why pay union workers more when you can get it for less? Staffing agencies are hiring people from Philipsburg, who have to drive an hour and are so desperate for work they are willing to work for $8 dollars an hour. They will burn that much in gas, half of their pay check just to arrive on time. And Penn State will cycle through them, and keep up the part-time employees. After all, full time is quite costly.

Meanwhile, Eric Barron gets reviewed for an annual raise. How to account for this fat cat’s cost? Lets raise the cost of football tickets (they just did that), and let’s get more Sandusky-affiliated chronies to back him, because nobody wants anybody sniffing around to how the BOT was connected to the Second Mile – particularly after “that movie” (Paterno) was just released nationwide.

Several trustees expressed their disappointment on the process that resulted in the decision to extend Barron’s contract. “We’re faced with making the most important decision that the board can make, and in my estimation and my estimation only, we’re making it based almost exclusively on the work, input and recommendations of a five-person committee that worked not inclusively or openly or collaboratively, instead privately behind a committee curtain away from the board at large. In my estimation, that’s the antithesis of good and transparent governance,” said William Oldsey, an alumni-elected trustee. CITATION

A privately “behind committee curtain away from the board at large” established this. Well, well, the Second Mile and good old boy network survived.

And the “fearless” give their criticisms with a cowardly caveat:

He said his criticism has “absolutely nothing” to do with Barron or his performance, saying his criticism is aimed solely at the process and that he’ll continue to be supportive of Barron.CITATION

Ladies and Gentleman, Pennsylvania taxpayers: It is business as usual in this cesspool of corruption. Way to slip that in before the Lachman ruling – did PA tax-payers pay you extra for your overtime?

Disgusting.

Where is the money going?

Hah!

Well that’s your guess (and mine)? $$$$$$$318 MILLION in tax payer money, and tuition and salary on the rise….. Mind blowing…. Don’t you think?

Penn State President Eric Barron recently sent out a call asking Penn State alumni to lobby Pennsylvania legislators in support of a $318 million appropriation of taxpayer funds for the university. As a Penn State alumna who also supports good governance and the transparency required for watchdogs to expose and correct corruption, waste, fraud and abuse, I ask Pennsylvania’s legislature to withhold public funding for Penn State. Please withhold funding until Penn State’s executive leadership explicitly endorses Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s June 2017 recommendation that Penn State and the other state-related universities be subject to the Right-to-Know-Law and the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act, from which they are currently exempt. CITATION

Maybe DON’T take that second mortgage and instead send your kid to Temple or IUP. Eric Barron is not worth the investment, and this once proud, top public schools in the nation, is being destroyed by the news. Much of whom are in the pockets of Shapiro, who is in the pocket of this institution.

An elite place of academia. Please, stop living in the past. Penn State is nothing more than a money-making machine. And that has been the condition for the last decade at least. Get out of your own head, this isn’t the PSU fantasy where your kids retire from positions as Janitors after making $50k a year. Welcome to the new world of Marxism, where even PhD employees “clock in.”